


Kaz Learns Self Care

by DreamAmongStars



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Modern AU, also inej and nina are girlfriends ofc, kaz is bad at taking care of himself, self-care, so inej and nina help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 04:58:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamAmongStars/pseuds/DreamAmongStars
Summary: Kaz is bad at taking care of himself. This is a modern au drabble about how he's slowly learning to get better.





	Kaz Learns Self Care

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this bc one of my best friends is also bad at taking care of herself and she said if a fic existed where Kaz was taking care of himself she'd be more motivated, and I hope it works and I hope it helps other people, too. Ily bby <3 You're doing great

Kaz let out a sigh as he entered his apartment. Finally, home at last. He’d been working long hours at the casino, and quite frankly his leg was killing him. It didn’t help that he lived on the fifth floor of his building and the elevator had been out of service for a month, now. The exercise was good for him, but he always had to have a dinner of painkillers after the trek upstairs. Speaking of dinner…

Kaz shuffled painfully to the fridge, knowing full well that Nina would have a fit if she found out he’d taken meds on an empty stomach (“Unless it explicitly says ‘do not take with food’, you should always take medicine after eating. You’ll irritate your stomach!”). He opened the fridge and scanned the contents, his eyes settling on five containers of Tupperware stacked on top of each other. Kaz took the top one out and read the note left on it:

“I think you should just learn how to cook, but Nina says she likes cooking for you. Yes, I scaled five stories to deliver teriyaki chicken, and no, it was not difficult. XO -Inej”

He couldn’t help but smile. Kaz had a very distinct memory of handing Inej a key to his apartment, and yet she insisted on scaling the building—and in broad daylight, no less. Whatever, Kaz thought as he popped the chicken in the microwave, he left the windows unlocked for her, anyway.

Once the chicken was done, Kaz took it and an ice pack to the living room and sat down on the couch. There was another note on the remote:

“Nina really wants you to watch Downton Abbey. It doesn’t fit your aesthetic, but she insists on collecting more people to talk about it with. -Inej”

Inej had been breaking into Kaz’s apartment ever since he’d moved in. Sometimes she was still there when he got home, and they would watch trashy reality TV, yelling at the screen and laughing about how bad the show was but also being actually invested in it. Mostly, though, she’d leave little notes. A few he kept up until they lost their stick, and then Inej would replace it with a new one. Some of his favorites were the one on his bathroom mirror that said “wash your damn face”, the one on the door that said “did you take your meds?” which was right below the “YOU FORGOT YOUR KEYS” note, and the one above the kitchen sink that said “damn bitch you live like this?” that reminded him to do the dishes. 

It wasn’t that Kaz couldn’t handle living on his own. No, he was doing just fine at that. He paid rent on time, he had a job, insurance (even dental!), and went to a therapist every other week. What he struggled with was taking care of himself. Sleeping enough, showering daily, eating healthy (eating at all…), things like that. This was where Inej and Nina came in. Nina would cook for him—meal prep-type dishes he could take with him to work—show up at random times of the week and exclaim, “girl’s night!” before covering him in face masks, sugar scrubs, hair masks, and more things he wasn’t going to try to name, and she was a good listener. Inej was subtler. She preferred leaving notes (most of which were sarcastic or humorous in some way) and reminders to help Kaz get in the habit of taking care of himself. 

On his really bad days, his “no energy to text back” days, they’d come over. If he couldn’t handle company, they’d make him a meal or draw him a bath before going back home. But if he didn’t kick them out, they’d stay with him. Even if they mostly just scrolled through twitter silently, he liked their presence. It comforted him.

His phone chimed.

**Inej:** Have you started Downton Abbey?  
 **Kaz:** not yet. I’m still getting caught up with Brooklyn nine-nine  
 **Inej:** Fair. How’s the chicken?  
 **Kaz:** wonderful. fantastic. never-been-done-before  
 **Inej:** I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or if you’re quoting that Lady Gaga clip  
 **Kaz:** the second option  
 **Inej:** Good, bc if you say anything bad about anything my girlfriend does, you’ll catch these hands  
 **Kaz:** lol good thing I don’t have anything bad to say about Nina  
 **Inej:** damn straight

Kaz smiled and set his phone aside. He really loved them. Sometimes, he’d ask what he did to deserve them, and Inej would give him this look that said “if you dare devalue yourself again I will personally let you know how deserving of love you are,” which somehow always seemed like a threat.

He settled into the couch and let b99 play in the background while he scrolled through tumblr, and before he knew it, he’d blazed through six episodes and it was 10:30pm. He got another text.

**Inej:** It’s 10:30 and you have a shift tomorrow. Go get ready for bed  
 **Kaz:** you just woke me up  
 **Inej:** Bullshit lol we both know you’ve never gone to bed earlier than 11  
 **Kaz:** if I go to bed at all  
 **Inej:** You’ll go to bed if I have to come over and inject ZzzQuil into your veins  
 **Kaz:** ok mom  
 **Inej:** Your other mom is glad you like the chicken. Don’t forget to bring some for lunch tomorrow  
 **Kaz:** I’ll pack it in my Hello Kitty lunchbox along with a CapriSun and a twinkie  
 **Inej:** Shhh about the twinkies! Your mom would kill me if she found out!  
 **Kaz:** sorry mom  
 **Inej:** It’s okay sleep well and have a good day at school! Stop stealing other kids’ lunch money!  
 **Kaz:** it’s not my fault if they lose it lol  
 **Inej:** seriously tho go to bed

Kaz positioned his cane so he could pull himself up off the couch with a groan. The painkillers had worked for the most part, but he was still stiff. Tomorrow he’d call management about the elevator.

**Author's Note:**

> hhh not in love with the ending but eh  
> also the formatting I did for the texts got ruined when I copied and pasted riiiiiiip


End file.
